At a time when the United States is thinking about becoming more protectionist and nationalism is on the rise, it's even more important to know about the world outside our own borders. Europa World Plus is a good, reliable resource for this.

You can browse for countries, regions, or organizations. You can generate comparative statistics of as many countries as you like, to see what they spend per person on healthcare, for example, or on imports and exports. The data can be downloaded into a number of formats for inclusion in a report.

Some other features:

• impartial coverage of issues of regional importance from acknowledged experts
• bibliographies of books and journals to direct you to further research
• directory of research institutes specializing in each region